


Episode Gladiolus: Improved

by noctgarr



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: M/M, literally what is this and why do i love this so much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-01
Updated: 2018-07-01
Packaged: 2019-05-31 15:57:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15122876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noctgarr/pseuds/noctgarr
Summary: Ignoring the events of Episode Gladiolus to explore a better, sexier episode where Gladiolus confronts the object of his insecurities directly. Only he ends up finding more humanity in Ravus than he expected to.





	Episode Gladiolus: Improved

"Why won't you fight?" Gladio roared, "How am I supposed to fight a man that won't raise his blade?"

He tossed his great sword into the dirt, though it disappeared soon after leaving his grip. "Show some spine, you bastard! You had no trouble before!" Gladio stormed up to Ravus, trying to force him back on the offensive with a wild punch that only connects with a few strands of his white tousled hair.

"What good would it do you to die here?" Ravus finally raised his voice. He had tried and failed to hold his tongue against the brute, but he simply would not back down. 

"Don't look down on me! I've trained my whole life for this! You think I'll just lay down and die?" Gladiolus snapped, his abandoned sword spawning back into his hands and slicing through Ravus' sleeve, spilling blood from the forearm that still retained his own flesh.

Ravus' eyes stormed, while he had no intent of fighting Noctis’ shield here, he had no intent of sustaining injury either. He lashed out with a counter attack that split his opponent from rib to shoulder so quickly neither him or his opponent could react in time. Even outside of the former king’s hands, Ravus could not let himself forget how formidable his blade was. With that single swing he could have fatally wounded him had he leaned in only an inch further. Gladiolus stumbled before him, dropping to his knees with a hand pressed to his wound. Ravus stumbled back― he cursed his strength, but only internally. He couldn't bring himself to show his weakness, so he cursed the other man instead. 

"Just give it up, go!” He swiped his mechanical arm through the air, shooing him like a naughty child. “Crawl back to your pocket sized prince! I am no threat to him here." 

"No threat?" Gladiolus hissed venomously. "You abandoned your home- your sister- just to kiss some Niff ass as soon as they landed, didn’t you? "

"I abandoned no one!" Ravus shouted, stomping Gladio to the ground with a sharp kick to his sternum, teeth bared as he yelled, "Must I spell it out for you? If you would only use your head for something beyond swinging that log of a sword of yours, you would see that I am no enemy to the king!" He ground the dirt of his heel into the man's blood before pulling away all of a sudden. His hands balled into fists but he shook them out with a frantic energy, trying to compose himself with a long, sharp breath in. 

"...I apologize." Despite his best efforts to let the tension melt out of him, he stood rigid and shaking as he adjusted the collar of his frock. "I will excuse myself now."

Gladio forced himself to get back up, watching the former prince turn heel to leave. Ravus could feel brown eyes burn into his back, but he couldn't see his jaw tense as his expression hardened into determined resolve. 

"Wait." Gladiolus boomed. Slowly, he steadied his feet on the ground and straightened up, wavering where he stood. "You're hurt too." Gladio's voice was hardly louder than that of his labored breathing now, but it still stopped Ravus in his tracks as if a ghost had just passed through him. "Let me patch us up. You can explain yourself and I'll decide for myself if you really are on our side."

There is a pregnant silence in the twenty feet between them, only the crackle of campfire dared interrupt it.

"Awfully bold of you to demand more of my attention after I’ve given you more than enough in subduing you." Ravus challenged him, looking over his shoulder and ultimately turning back around, avoiding the man’s eyes. "You’re lucky I hadn’t intended to wound you in the first place, I might actually feel inclined to see that you don’t bleed out."

"It's... not as bad as it looks." Gladio grunted dryly.

“Nonsense.” Ravus approached, making Gladio flinch under his mechanical grip on his shoulder. A confident move that left his defenses down, hopefully enough to inspire the larger man’s trust in him. “I will tend to your wounds.” 

“What?”

"Would you let me?" Ravus asked gingerly this time, displaying a degree of tenderness in the pressure his hand applied to Gladio's shoulders, backing up the sincerity of his request.

"You plan to talk?"

"I will do my best."

"Then, sure." Gladio conceded, lowering himself to the ground with a thud and manually straightening out his legs in front of him. 

Ravus nodded and set himself to the task without another word, though there's a nagging in the back of his mind and it demanded to know why he was planning to open up to a stranger. He pushed the voice back into the recessed folds of his brain though, where such weak thoughts belonged. Bottom line, it was in very few people's best interest to wound the future king's first line of defense. He had acted impulsively and now must focus on cleaning up his mess. It couldn't hurt to actually communicate with the people he had been helping from within the shadows either, at least that's what he tells himself. There's an almost primal urge manifesting inside him that is chomping at the bit for an opportunity to just... talk to someone, and this could be that opportunity.

"I have some supplies we can use in my bag," Gladio offers up the sleek, black side bag that's strap had been sliced clean through by Ravus' blade. "I was going to camp here tonight." Ravus peered inside.

"...Cup noodles."

"You want one later?"

"That's quite alright." Ravus snorted, both taken aback and amused by the man’s near idiotic levels of hospitality. "I definitely won't be staying long enough for you to feed me." He knelt down beside the man with the first aid kit acting as a buffer between them, sifting through medical supplies for the ones he needed.

"The truth is, I don't know exactly where I stand anymore.” He admitted with a loaded sigh. “That probably doesn't inspire any confidence in your decision to trust me, I'm sure." Ravus laughed dryly, neglecting to meet the other man's patient eyes. "All I know is that it hasn’t been right lately. High ranking Imperial officials have been dropping like flies, either they jump ship of their own volition or they disappear without a trace... The man I once trusted won't look me in the eyes anymore, only walk circles around me like a hungry animal when he talks." 

"Who is this man?" Gladio prodded, but Ravus only swallows in shame, avoiding the question. With a cloth dampened with alcohol he cleaned up the thickening blood that oozed from Gladiolus' chest with careful precision, silently impressed by how quickly the wound had already begun to scab. 

"...I think he intends to kill me once I outlive my usefulness." He continued. "I no longer care for anything but Lunafreya’s safety anymore, whatever I hoped to accomplish working with the empire is over now. After I’m gone, the only one I can trust with my sister’s well being is Noctis... I know now that he must take his place as the rightful king."

"You more than him, it sounds like." Gladio leaned forward and adjusting how he sat, hissing when the movement in his chest stretches the corners of his gash with a painful sting.

"Hold still." Ravus commanded, pressing a roll of gauze to his rib cage at the peak of the wound "Now lift your arms." Gladiolus complied and he wraps the gauze dressing tightly around the man's pectorals and back until the wound was completely covered. With a small, unobstructive safety pin, he secured the bandages and rewarded the man’s good behavior with a pat on his arm. Gladiolus looks down at himself, appreciating the tight handiwork of a former royal that had been trained to proficiency in many different skills such as this.

"Now it's your turn." Gladiolus asserted, rolling his shoulder to work out some of the stiffness that came with fresh injury. "Take off your top and give me your arm."

"O-off?" He checked to see if simply rolling up his sleeve would suffice, but the cursed garment is nearly an exact fit and it dug painfully into his wound when he tried. He sighed deeply, eyes rolling back as he worked through the buttons down his chest and shrug the battle worn coat off only the afflicted arm, keeping his coat draped over his other half to preserve his decency. 

He cast his gaze aside, offering up his arm in front of him bravely as if he was in the doctor’s office about to have his blood drawn, but then something strange happened. Gladiolus touched him. He expected that, of course, the oddity is in how his gentle fingertips maneuver him into a state of relaxation, finding serenity in another person's touch. Coincidentally, his breath hitched when Gladio dabbed away at the caked blood, not in pain but in reaction to the warmth building up inside him.

"Sorry, it stings a little, huh."

"O-of course, not to worry." Ravus assured him, wincing slightly when Gladio pressed a thick bandage to his broken skin and rubbed the tape down. "Gladiolus…” He began meekly, his metal plated finger drawing circles in the dust as he pondered continuing. 

“Hm?” Gladio uttered, without his focus ever wandering from the task at hand.

“May I divulge something personal to you? It doesn't concern you, so it's a selfish request I make, I know, but..."

"Hit me."

"...I'm afraid, Gladiolus." He pulled his freshly packaged wound back into his body and inspected it, pressing his thumb down the center of it with a morbid curiosity. Blood drained from his flesh, seeping into the gauze like a flower in full bloom. When was the last time he bled? Before the power of the magitek ran through his other arm, surely. "...Death looms just over the horizon for me. I am too young and yet, I know when it comes it will be painful, and I'll be alone... It feels so heavy, there's been no solace for me."

"I’m… sorry." Gladiolus almost mirrors Ravus' pained expression in an unconscious act of sympathy for the man's plight, before turning his gaze back to the dirt. "If it helps... I'm afraid too. I didn’t fight you to protect my king. I fought you because you're an obstacle I can't overcome. The first time we fought... you made me worry for the first time that I'm not cut out for this."

"You're plagued too then, it seems." Ravus mused sadly from where he had settled in next to the Crownsguard, and indeed, the topics up for discussion were depressing, but he felt an inkling of something else inside, something warm. To open up to someone and have his voice actually heard, then to be trusted to listen in turn, it touched him. In fact, something else was touching him as well. Ravus looked down between them, finding his palm rubbing Gladiolus' thigh. 

"Oh. Oh my god, I'm so sorry." He gasped, ripping his hand away.

Gladiolus laughed, his breath came in heaves as he pinched the bridge of his nose, shoulders bouncing with silent laughter. Gladiolus looked beautiful when he laughed.

"You just do whatever feels right, babe." He finally managed with a shaky composure― Babe? Did the brute call everyone he just met 'babe'? Would he even feel shame if he were to reflect on it? Ravus was forced to bear the burden of shame enough for both of them, once pale skin now a beet-red complexion. 

"Well, we've both been treated now, so I should think leaving is what feels right." 

"Yeah?"

"...No."

"Do you want to dress down a little then? Spend the night? I'm going to warm up some noodles... " Gladio offered, propping his elbow up on his knee and giving Ravus a once over with interested eyes. “You in?”

Ravus narrowed his gaze in suspicion.

"Spend the night... How do you mean?"

"However it happens. You can wear my hoodie if you're uncomfortable in that getup and we can start from there." The man held out the article of clothing he spoke of, smiling when Ravus actually took it gingerly after some thought. 

"Don't stare." Ravus pouted, his frock already loosened and hanging off his shoulders. He rolled his eyes when Gladio simply ignored his command, shucking off his dirtied coat as quickly as possible to wrap himself in something infinitely more comfortable, with a scent that was so distinctly not his own that he felt his cheeks pinken a little at the intimacy.

"I can't deny, you look really good in that."

"...And you look fairly handsome without it." 

"Wow." Gladio mustered after processing the flirt that just had come out of the blue. It must of been rare for him to feel so flustered, since he seemed to bask in his own glow for a second. "You don't say."

"I think I do say." Ravus confirmed bashfully, crossing his arms over his knees and resting his cheek there, though his eyes stayed curiously focused on Gladiolus' attractive bone structure, accented with sharply shaven facial hair. Gladio reached out and brushed some silver hair out of the way of his view.

"So soft..."

"Gladiolus..." Ravus bowed his head, savoring the gentle touch that the larger man had surprised him with before. He leaned into it, twisting his body to face him directly. "You told me to do what felt right, so..." He bit his lip with a coy smile, his hand trailing up the other man's leg, steadying himself with his palm gripping Gladiolus' thigh. “Humor me, would you?”

After a moment’s hesitation he acts on his impulse, surprising himself at the ease in which their lips meet each other in a kiss so slow and sweet like molasses. Between the taste and Gladio's hand threading through his hair he can only imagine that he has been caught in the jaws of a Venus fly trap. Like the fly, his death was inevitable, so he gave in. 

They part sloppily, and a slow breath in cleared the ache from his lungs as he hiked a leg over Gladiolus' lap in order to straddle his hips. The new posture stoked the warmth that had been stewing calmly in their bellies into a humble fire, a balmy glow on their cheeks. Ravus sighed, the sound he makes is higher in pitch than he’d like and his clothes feel much tighter than normal, but he doesn't let himself panic just yet, surely he had only just scraped the tip of the iceberg of pleasure he is capable of feeling. An easy smile managed to break out onto his face despite his inhibitions as he rocks his hips back and forth over the stiffening organ in Gladio's pants, teasing both of them with the tantalizing friction.

Apparently, Gladiolus doesn't take too well to teasing. His strong hands gave Ravus' ass a hearty squeeze and drag him in impossibly close. He growled into the crook of the former prince's neck, parting his lips and sucking. Gladiolus was raw power, masculine and overpowering. Ravus wasn't small framed in comparison but he can feel his blood drain, head becoming blissfully light, and he feels delicate, comfortably surrounded like a precious piece of jewelry. For a few equally precious moments he can imagine that Gladiolus was his Crownsguard, and that he need not worry as long as he remained in his arms. 

"Gladiolus." Ravus commanded his attention, "I want you. How do you plan to... prepare me?"

"I brought lube."

"Really? So, you came out here alone to... pleasure yourself?"

"Don't judge." Gladio's smile is bright but embarrassed and Ravus can't help but giggle, a breathy, cute sound that he tried to cover up with his gloved hand. 

After soaking in the image of Ravus’s delighted face, Gladiolus overpowered him again easily, rolling him onto the ground and pinning him against the dirt with a hot and heavy kiss. He wasted little time unzipping his hoodie and splaying it to the sides, eager to be rewarded with more of his bare flesh. Ravus moved like liquid mercury under Gladio’s kisses, his body undulating and serpentine, swelling beneath the belt with his breath trapped painfully in his ribs. With his hands on broad shoulders, he urged Gladio lower, and apparently, just happened to push Gladio where he wanted to be all along. He flashed Ravus a hungry expression from where he hovered over the bulge in Ravus' pants, which he then promptly and greedily mouthed over at a sensual pace. When the prince is finally relieved of his belt, he is relieved of his anxieties as well, his perception only capable of focusing on his cock standing tall.

"Gladiolus." He rasped, his half-lidded eyes glued to the sight of the other man licking up his shaft, but the only reaction he received was the man's brown irises popping up to look at him as he sunk his mouth around the head of his dick. "Oh god, Gladiolus." His knuckles burn, Gladiolus's head began to bob and Ravus snagged the skin of his back with his fingernails as they balled into whitened fists. He laid there, helpless to the mounting pleasure in his loins before he worked up the energy to speak. "Stop." He gasped when he slips from Gladiolus's throat suddenly, "Get your lube."

Gladiolus was as loyal and obedient as a dog, switching up the course of their rut as Ravus had ordered to tend to the stretching of his walls with cool slick. He took the task on with patience, doting over him with such sickeningly sweet praises that felt akin to worship.

"You're beautiful." Gladiolus exhaled, looking dreamy eyed and breathless with his tip pushing insistently against its destination.

"Make me feel it." Ravus commanded sharply with intense, hurricane eyes, back arching with a strained grunt as Gladio pressed inside, and like the dog he was, eagerly began to fuck Ravus with unrestrained power. They played off each other beautifully, rocking their hips together to a rhythm that was unfamiliar to him, but all-consuming nonetheless. Ravus hardly had it in him to vocalize his pleasure, face reddening as he went silent and taut, letting his new lover batter a sensitive spot inside of him until his view of the world seemed much narrower and brighter than it was. Then suddenly, like a string being pulled in both directions, he felt himself fray and then snap, loins pulsing as he came onto his own chest.

Though it felt like forever, only minutes pass before Gladiolus' presence became heavy and bloated above him, like a wet blanket dripping with masculine energy as he wrapped Ravus up in his arms, riding out his own orgasm with a few final thrusts.

He then collapsed like a bag of sand on top of him, if a bag of sand could have a deep, gravelly laugh that tugged at Ravus' heart strings. Ravus lay there, content to be out of breath and smiling to himself until Gladiolus finally mustered up the strength to pick himself back up.

"...You've bled through your bandages." Ravus mused, ghosting his fingertips over the dampened gauze and examining the deeply pigmented fluid that had rubbed off on them with a disappointed pout.

"Guess you'll just have to play doctor with me again."

"Hah, no." Ravus chuckled, pointedly sitting up and wrapping his hoodie over his torso. "No, we are done now. I'm spent. But I will redress your wound before I leave." 

"Ravus." Gladio held him up a little longer with a hand wrapped delicately around the commander's wrist before he could reach for the first aid kit again. 

"Yes?"

"...I think I want to see you again."

"Mmm... There is something here, isn't there." He motioned between the two of them with a mildly pained expression. "...Are you sure you want to get involved in someone so close to his expiry date?"

"I'd regret anything else. This feels right."

"So it does..." Ravus couldn't help but smile, "I'll contact you then, as soon as I can, but don't wait up for me if I... don't."

"I'll wait."

"Foolish..."


End file.
